ROWAN CONROY
In 2019, artist Rowan Conroy took this in a series of drone footage of the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project as part of his project Creative Residencies in Archaeology
Artist Statement
I first attended the Paphos theatre excavations in 1996 at the age of fourteen. I went on to attend the dig in 1997, 2001, 2002 & 2006. Being exposed to archaeology and Cyprus at an impressionable age has had a lasting and profound impact artistically and academically. In 1997 I worked with the site photographer, Bob Miller. I recall the guerrilla darkroom, constructed in a dilapidated farm building, leaky and mouldy. This was combined with the magical results of analogue photography - a fantastic memory to have and a formative experience. In later seasons of “the dig” I worked as an archaeological illustrator. Drawing gave me an intimate and meditative exposure to the material culture of the site.
One season when drawing an exquisite sherd of terra sigillata Roman ware I discovered a perfectly preserved fingerprint of an ancient potter on the base of the fragment. This formed a memory that I have returned to many times. It was moving to see the only remnant of a human presence physically etched in an object, and a sense of continuity with the ancient artists associated with the site.
I went on to study visual art at Sydney University. By my honours year my interest in the intersection of art and archaeology had been cemented in my practice. In 2011 I was conferred a PhD from Sydney university for my thesis Archaeologies of the Present:Rephotographing the William John Woodhouse Photographic Archive. This involved four years of research into the intersections of visual art and archaeology with a focus on photography. This was complemented by a reconstruction of a partly broken and fragmented Woodhouse photographic archive held at Sydney University’s Nicholson Museum. A year of field work in Greece in 2009-2010 followed and allowed a process of rephotography in the field, a process that uncovered as much about the original archive as it did about the present condition of the sites. Digital technologies are my research focus, particularly inkjet printing as well as artisanal practices such as printmaking and bookmaking, which interface with new software and hardware.
Looking back over two decades of my involvement in the Paphos theatre excavation I can see that it has had an indelible influence on my artistic practice. I continue to be interested in landscape history and the intersection of material culture and the built environment as a means of reading deeper patterns of use and occupation.
Photography has always had an uncanny ability to render the deep past and present in one image. I am interested in how the photography of sites is used as a memory aid, as a historical resource, as well as a reflective form of art. The theatre in moonlight is taken from the artist’s viewpoint, in lighting and composition – an archaeological photo would never be taken under moonlight at an oblique angle, a viewpoint influenced by the archaeological sublime rather than a technical approach.
Rowan Conroy, 2017.
Biography
Rowan Conroy was awarded a PhD from the University of Sydney (2012) for his research into photography, rephotography and archaeology. He is a visual artist and lecturer in Photomedia at the Australian National University School of Art. Conroy first joined the Paphos theatre excavations in 1996. He has exhibited widely in Australia, China, Singapore, and Cyprus. His work is held in national and private collections in Australia. As a freelance artist he has worked as an archaeological illustrator and photographer, which complemented his interest in urban and industrial sites of contemporary landscapes.